NCAA top 25 basketball

Meighan Simmons of Tennessee has her shot blocked by A'dia Mathies of Kentucky during Sunday's game at Lexington, Ky. No. 10 Kentucky won 78-65.

Published March 04. 2013 12:01AM

Men

No. 4 Michigan 58, No. 9 Michigan State 57

Trey Burke stole the ball from Keith Appling near midcourt and went in alone for a dunk with 22 seconds remaining, then made another steal in the final seconds to give Michigan a pulsating win over Michigan State Sunday.

The Spartans (22-7, 11-5 Big Ten) had the ball with the shot clock off at 56-all, but Burke's first big defensive play enabled Michigan (24-5, 11-5) to take the lead. After Derrick Nix made one of two free throws and Mitch McGary missed the front end of a 1-and-1 for Michigan, Burke stole a pass by Gary Harris to end it.

The Michigan State loss clinches at least a share of the Big Ten title for Indiana.

Purdue 69, No. 17 Wisconsin 56

D.J. Byrd scored 16 of his 22 points in the second half and Purdue upset Wisconsin.

Terone Johnson added 16 points for the Boilermakers (14-15, 7-9 Big Ten), who had lost three straight road games and four of five overall. Purdue took control with a 21-3 run in the second half during which Byrd had nine points and Johnson eight.

Jared Berggren scored 13 points and Ryan Evans and Sam Dekker had 10 apiece for the Badgers (20-9, 11-5), who had won six of their previous seven.

Zanna added a career-high 19 rebounds for the Panthers (23-7, 11-6 Big East), who trailed by as much as nine in the second half. James Robinson also had 14 points for Pitt, including a game-tying 3-pointer with 33 seconds left in regulation and another in overtime that gave the Panthers a five-point lead.

Ryan Arcidiacono led Villanova with 23 points but the Wildcats (18-12, 9-8) let an opportunity to pad their NCAA tournament resume slip away in the final Big East game at Petersen Events Center.

They overcame a season-high 29 turnovers by forcing the hot-and-cold Tar Heels (26-5, 14-4) to miss 19 consecutive shots during a span of roughly 10 minutes in the second half and beat their archrivals for the sixth straight time.

No. 7 Penn State 82, No. 20 Nebraska 67

Maggie Lucas scored 34 points to lead seventh-ranked Penn State to a victory over Nebraska, clinching the Lady Lions' second straight outright Big Ten championship and ending the Cornhuskers' 10-game win streak.

Lucas made a career-high eight 3-pointers, with four of them coming in a bunch to help the Lady Lions stretch their lead in the first half and three more keeping the Huskers at bay early in the second.

Penn State (24-4, 14-2) improved to 6-1 against ranked opponents and secured its best conference record since going 15-1 in 2003-04.

Kentucky set the tone throughout but emerged from a 36-32 halftime lead with a big run set up by three steals and two rebounds by Samarie Walker (10 points). That put the Wildcats up 55-38 and they stayed safely ahead to make Matthew Mitchell the program's winningest coach with 139 victories.

Georgia's shooters could only improve after shooting 18.2 percent in a 50-38 loss to Mississippi State on Thursday. The Bulldogs (24-5, 12-4) shot 35.8 percent (19 of 53) Sunday, though they only made 2 of 11 3-pointers.

The Flyers (26-1, 14-0) set a record for victories since moving to Division I in the 1985-86 season. Both teams advanced to Saturday's Atlantic 10 tournament quarterfinals, where Saint Joseph's (20-8, 11-3) will be the host and fourth seed.

LSU 67, No. 13 Texas A&M 52

Theresa Plaisance scored 16 points and Danielle Ballard had 15 points and 11 rebounds Sunday to lead LSU to a victory over Texas A&M in the regular-season finale for both teams.

Ballard, a freshman, posted her second consecutive double-double for the Tigers (19-10, 10-6 SEC), who have won six in a row entering next weekend's Southeastern Conference tournament. Ballard had 14 points and 10 rebounds on Thursday in a win over Alabama.

No. 18 Delaware 62, Drexel 57

Elena Delle Donne posted a double-double and Lauren Carra scored a season-high 21 points to help Delaware beat Drexel and tie a school record with 21 straight wins.

Delle Donne finished with 28 points and 10 rebounds, her eighth double-double this season, while Carra made 7 of 14 shots, including a 3-pointer that broke a 54-all tie with 1:36 left to play.

Drexel's Rachel Pearson answered with a 3 of her own but Carra and Delle Donne combined to make five free throws over the final minute while the Dragons (20-8, 13-4) went scoreless.

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